HARARE - The Minister of Energy and Power Developments directive to power utility ZESA to charge US$30 a month for power in high-density areas and US$40 in other suburbs is being contemptuously defied, parliament was told last week.
Masvingo Central MP Jeffryson Chitando rose to question the minister whether he was aware that ZESA was charging exorbitant rates to consumers. Engineer Elias Mudzuri said he was aware of problems with ZESAs billing. Some of them have been estimated, some of them have been pro-rated and estimated to December and January and some of them are actual. The majority of these bills have been found to be anomalous and I have been working with ZESA to ensure that most of these bills can be corrected, he said.
Mudzuri told parliament that sometimes ZESA did not read meters because of logistical problems. The Minister, however, said that, in such circumstances, he had directed the power utility to bill average rates. ZESA bills are far higher than the most people can afford, and there have also been long periods of power outages. Business has been hit hardest, and small business is forking out between US$5,000 and US$12,000 in ZESA bills. The creaky power infrastructure occasionally collapses and residents are forced to pick up electrical technicians and arrange their errands in an effort to minimise downtime. Some residents have received bills of up to US$800 from ZESA, and this has touched a raw nerve. Mudzuri said residents should pay their bills first before complaining.
So, you must ensure that the person has paid the US$30 or the US$40 for residential purposes, then we will be able to talk, Mudzuri said. If you have paid nothing and the bill is exorbitant, ZESA is bound to cut you off because some of the people are hiding behind the charges and they are not paying anything. So, I insist that people must pay that amount and then query their bills. Zvishavane-Runde MP Lawrence David Mavhima demanded to know what the Minister was doing about ZESA in view of the fact that they were defying the directive from him. He said it was proving hard to find out who had been behind the problem and whether it was a mistake or outright defiance.
I have just held a meeting with them and they said they are complying with that directive and that directive has been going on for the past four to six months. I believe that they still tell me that they have challenges in reading meters and they say there are human errors and they were telling me the errors are around 60 per cent. Once something has become 60 per cent, it does not become an error, but negligence or something else and it will be the administration level now which will deal with such issues. Mudzuri said aggrieved communities should hold ZESA to account. ZESA is a public entity and we should demand their service and get the right answers and it is incumbent upon honourable members from this House to help us manage this institution, he added.
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